


How to Start a Fire

by Yadirocks



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:38:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4914493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yadirocks/pseuds/Yadirocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes things are said that can't be taken back, and things will be broken that you cannot fix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Embers

The day had been a long one for both Yadier and Adam. They trudged into their hotel room that they were sharing while the Cardinals were in New York. Yadier plopped down onto his bed, not even caring that his gearbag still needed to be put away or that he was still in his day clothes. 

He heard the bathroom door click closed, and knew that Adam would be a while. The pitcher had a knack for staying in the bathroom long enough to make Yadier believe that he had drowned in the bathtub. Yadier smiled at the memory of when he first voiced these thoughts to Adam.

"What if you die in there? I'd never know because you stay in there for three hours and don't come out until you smell food!" Yadier had complained, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis. Adam rolled his eyes and waved Yadier off. "At least I don't stink like you," he had said, poking Yadier in the chest. "I can smell you from the dugout!"

They had had this argument plenty of times before, but it always ended the same way, one of them making up such a brilliant comeback that all the other could do was clap and let the disagreement fade to dust.

Yadier closed his eyes, confident that Adam would retire after he got done in the bathroom. He didn't even bother taking his shoes off. It was wasting precious sleep, as Adam always came in before he went to bed, pulling off Yadier's shoes and covering him with a thick blanket. After all, what were friends for?

He was awoken by a sudden jolt and found himself on the carpeted floor. Yadier groaned, sitting up. What had happened?

Then, he turned and looked to see Adam glaring at him, his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. Yadier blinked at him. "Is there a problem, other than the fact that you just woke me up?" Yadier asked through a yawn.

"Oh, like you don't know!" Adam snapped. Yadier was confused. Had he missed something? He jogged his memory, but couldn't recollect Adam being mad at him at any point in the day. What did Adam believe he had done?

Yadier chose to stand, brushing himself off. "I actually have no idea. Care to tell me before you push me to the ground again?" Yadier asked.

Adam looked him up and down, as if judging whether he was safe or not. Then, he huffed. "You stole my necklace!"

Yadier paused mid-grab for the blankets that had landed in a heap on the floor with him. "Excuse me?' Yadier asked, offended. He stood up straight, meeting Adam's glare. "What makes you think that I would take your necklace?'

Adam sighed in exasperation, as if it were obvious. "You're the only person who has a key card to this room. I left the necklace set right on the counter in the bathroom before we left, and now it's gone. The only logical answer is that you took it."

Yadier sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, I didn't," Yadier said. "Why would I take your dumb necklace anyway?"

Adam flinched at the word 'dumb,' resulting in his anger flaring once again. "I'll have you know that that necklace wasn't 'dumb,'" he muttered.

Yadier crossed his arms. "What's so special about it?"

Adam swallowed hard. "I don't need to tell you. Just give it back," he demanded, holding out his hand. 

"I already told you, I don't have it," Yadier said, emphasizing the last four words. "Do you need me to spell it out for you?"

Honestly, all Yadier wanted was to go back to sleep and then talk about this again in the morning. He was half-asleep when he felt the necklace he had on pulled from his neck.

Yadier immediately sat up, alert. Adam was dangling the golden chain from his fingers, staring at the small glove on the end. "Give that back," Yadier said shortly, reaching for his necklace, but Adam held it above his head. 

"I have a better idea," Adam said, his glare cold, and Yadier suddenly wondered whether he had been too harsh earlier. Still, he stood firm by his earlier claim. "Adam, I swear, I did not take that necklace. You can search my room and my car and my clothes. Just give me back that necklace."

Adam again searched him up and down before saying, "This necklace means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

Yadier swallowed the lump in his throat. Just staring at the necklace made the memory of his father come back. It had been his father's possession that he had left to Yadier in his will. It was his favorite necklace, and Yadier had always worn it with pride. It made him believe that somehow, some way, his father was still smiling and watching, and was proud of him. 

Trying not to cry, Yadier whispered, "Please, Adam, please give it back. I didn't take your necklace, but I'll help you look. Please, please..."

Yadier felt a tear roll down his face, but he couldn't stop staring at the chain. Adam didn't know whether Yadier was telling the truth or he was just a really good liar. 

When he saw the tears falling down Yadier's face as his eyes followed the chain wrapped around his fingers, he knew that this necklace was valuable to Yadier. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to take it, especially when Yadier whispered, "Pai..." and began to cry into his palms.

Adam put a hand on Yadier's shoulder and sat beside him. "I'm sorry," Adam whispered, pulling Yadier into a hug. He placed the golden chain around Yadier's neck again and the catcher cried into his shoulder. "There, all better now. Don't cry."

Slowly, Yadier's sobs calmed to a small sniff every now and then. Adam didn't talk, already feeling guilty for making his friend cry. "I'm sorry...you lost...your necklace," Yadier managed to get out.

Adam pulled away, smiling at Yadier. "It's okay," he whispered, pulling the chain on Yadier's neck until the little catcher's glove was centered. "I'm sorry I did that," Adam said, averting his eyes. "I don't know what came over me."

It was silent for a moment, before Yadier squeezed his arm. "We'll find the necklace," Yadier said, doing his best to sound confident for his friend. Adam nodded. Yadier and Adam sat in silence for a while. "Can we sleep first?" Yadier asked with another sniff.

Adam laughed. "I think that's probably a good start."


	2. Sparks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you don't realize what you had until it's gone.

The next morning was spent turning the entire hotel room inside out looking for the necklace. They checked everywhere, high and low, over and under, but came up with nothing. Adam felt his heart sink the longer they searched. They had to find the necklace. To a lot of people, it was just a piece of jewelry, nothing more. To Adam, however, it was worth more than gold. 

The necklace had been given to him by his father when he had been very young. It had to have been when he was young, because Adam's father had left him, his mother, and his older brother when Adam had been three years old. The necklace didn't have much quality to it. It was just a silver chain with a small emblem in the form of a hummingbird. He would lie awake at night and wonder if his father would come back had he had more time to think about it, if his father would still love him or call him 'son.' Then he would look down at the necklace, and all of his doubts would be erased, and he'd fall asleep with the little hummingbird clasped tightly in his fist. 

He didn't tell Yadier why it was so important to him, but Yadier never asked why. It seemed the catcher was lost in his own thoughts, probably still recalling the last night's events and wondering upon what he would've done had Adam decided to take his necklace from him. 

Adam still felt guilty for making Yadier cry, remembering Yadier pleading with him to please, give him back his necklace. Adam glanced at the catcher as he flashed back to that moment to find him staring aimlessly down at the little catcher's glove on the end of the golden chain, which was held in the palm of his hand. Adam cleared his throat to snap Yadier out of his small trance. "I think we should take a break," he said.

Yadier sighed, letting the golden glove fall back against his chest. "No, Adam, this necklace clearly means a lot to you. I think we should keep looking. After all, we don't have much time for a break anyway. We will have to leave for the game soon."

Still, Adam shook his head. "We need to go get ready anyway. As you said, we have a game to get to soon, and we still haven't eaten anything. Go get ready, I'll find us something to eat."

Finally, after another reluctant pause, Yadier nodded. Adam went into the small kitchen and sifted through the drawers and scavenged the cupboards. Finally, he found some snacks in the fridge and set them on the table. It wasn't much, just some yogurt and a pack of bacon. That didn't stop Adam from making the most of it.

Soon, the smell of bacon was wafting through the hotel room. Yadier was still in the bathroom getting ready for the game. As much as Yadier complained about the time it took him to get ready, it took Yadier even longer to make himself "presentable," as Yadier called it, for the game. Adam shook his head at his friend when he would say this. The catcher had too much pride.

By the time Yadier opened the door to the bathroom, Adam was crunching on some bacon and watching the highlights from the Red Sox vs. Yankees game. Yadier raised an eyebrow at him. Adam just gave him a small smile, trying to keep a straight face. Yadier rolled his eyes and held up his hand as he sat down. "I don't want to hear it, Adam Wainwright," he said before Adam could comment. 

Adam closed his mouth. "Hear what? I was just going to tell you how great that mask looks on you."

Yadier frowned. "What mask? I'm not wearing a mask," he said, confused.

Adam laughed. "That has to be a mask. It certainly isn't just what you look like, is it?"

Yadier crossed his arms over his chest with a huff, knowing where his best friend was going with this. "I hate you so much," Yadier grumbled as Adam held in his giggles. Adam brushed off his shirt and stood. "Now that I've successfully annoyed you for the time being, I'm going to go get dressed," he said, grabbing his uniform from off of a chair nearby. 

Adam was just starting to get ready when he smelled something peculiar. He frowned, sniffing the air again. He knew that smell. Though he knew what it was, Adam couldn't place the smell with a name. Trying to find the source, he sniffed around, and then realized the smell wasn't coming from in the bathroom, but from the kitchen. Adam's eyes widened. Smoke.


	3. Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People don't realize that material items are not as important as the people you love.

Adam rushed out of the bathroom when he recognized the smell. Yadier was still sitting at the kitchen table, watching TV and munching on bacon. Adam sniffed the air again, but didn't see a fire anywhere. Yadier glanced back at him, swallowing the last of the bacon. "What's wrong?" Yadier asked. "Don't tell me you're ready already. That'd be the fastest I've ever seen you get ready."

The pitcher didn't answer the catcher. Instead, he checked to see if the stove was still on, trying to figure out the source of the burning smell. Yadier frowned at him. "What the heck are you doing?"

Finally, after figuring out that the smell wasn't coming from inside the room, he turned to Yadier. "Something's burning," Adam murmured. Yadier's eyes widened, and he sniffed the air. "Now that you mention it," Yadier whispered, "I smell it too..."

Adam slowly approached the door to the hotel room, afraid to see what was outside. Luckily, there was no sign of smoke coming through the crack beneath the door, but that just meant the fire hadn't yet reached their room. He opened the door to find that the entire staircase was in flames. The fire was burning fast, catching on the ceiling. Adam closed the door quickly. "We have to get out of here right now," Adam urged, pushing Yadier into his room. "Grab anything valuable and let's get out of here!"

Yadier nodded, disappearing into his room. Adam went into his own, swearing when he went to brush his fingers over his necklace and realizing it wasn't there. If the necklace was in the room, he would just have to live without it. The thought of this saddened him deeply, but he couldn't let both Yadier and himself go down in flames for a necklace, no matter how important. With tears in his eyes, he grabbed his wallet and a few smaller things that he considered valuable and shoved them into his pockets. By the time he had finished, Yadier was tapping quickly on his door. "Adam, there's smoke coming underneath the door now!"

With one last glance back into the room, Adam opened the door. Yadier looked scared, but didn't let it show when he looked Adam in the eyes. "You got everything?" he asked. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Adam said, "Yeah, let's go!"

Just as both were running out, Yadier saw something shimmering out of the corner of his eye, and he froze even as Adam kept running.

Adam believed Yadier was right behind him up until he approached the staircase to the floor beneath their room. He turned to tell Yadier to watch out for falling parts of the ceiling, and gasped when the catcher was not on his heels. He looked around, waiting in case the catcher had simply not been able to keep up and was coming down the stairs. When Yadier never came, Adam called for him. When he received no answer in response, he swore once again and made his way back up the stairs. 

The door to the hotel room had been closed, but Adam rammed his shoulder into it as hard as he could. It didn't take long for the door to burst open, and Adam coughed as black smoke met him. Once he was able to see again, he noticed that the entire room had been engulfed in flames in only a few short minutes. Scanning the room for his friend, he spotted the catcher laying on the ground, pieces of the ceiling laying around him. Adam ran to him, kneeling beside his best friend. "Yadi?!" he cried, turning Yadier onto his back. Adam gaped at the angle Yadier's leg was twisted at, knowing almost instantly that it was broken. Adam was about to pick Yadier up and carry him out of the room, but a groan halted his movements.

"Yadi?" he asked again, this time trying to take the panic out of his voice. They needed to get out of the hotel before they burned to a crisp. He couldn't help but stop when Yadier opened his eyes, blinking up at Adam. "What happened?" Yadier asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He coughed with a wince. Adam felt anger rise in his chest again. "What were you thinking?!" he snapped. "I didn't know until I got to the floor below us that you weren't behind me! You scared me to death because I didn't know if you were okay or not!"

Adam felt hot, angry tears fill his eyes. "You could've been killed."

Yadier turned his head more towards Adam. "I...I had to go back," he whispered. Adam looked down at him. "Why?" he asked, curious. 

Yadier coughed again, this time hard enough to mount Adam's concern. He reached up his hand, which was tightly closed in a fist. Adam took it, thinking Yadier wanted his comfort, but instead, Yadier opened his fist and dropped something into his palm before his hand fell back to the floor. "Didn't want you to...ever doubt..." Yadier whispered.

Adam opened his hand to reveal the silver chain and the hummingbird. Adam looked from the necklace to Yadier. "Wh-" he started, but Yadier had passed out again. Adam looked from the trinket to his friend once more. He closed it in his fist and placed his other hand over Yadier's. "I've got you, buddy. Let's get out of here."

He dropped the necklace into his back pocket before picking his friend up. Avoiding the flames and falling ceiling was difficult, but every time Adam would stop and think he couldn't last any longer, he would look back down at Yadier and get his confidence back. If he died, Yadier would, too, and Adam couldn't let that happen. Finally, Adam ran out of the front door and into fresh air, where the rest of the team was waiting for them. "What the heck were you guys doing in there?! We all thought you were dead!" Mike Matheny yelled. Adam sighed, glancing back at the hotel, thankful for safety.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

"You're an idiot. I hate you so much. I can't believe you'd do something like that. Did you even consider how I would feel when you did it, or did it just not occur to you that I would be ticked?" 

Yadier smirked at Adam's rant. The pitcher was breathing heavily and looked like he was about to explode. Yadier chuckled, turning his head against the pillow to see his friend better. "I did think about it, Adam, but I didn't want you to wonder if I took that necklace for the rest of your life. I had to clear my name. Besides, that necklace means a lot to you. I know it," he said sincerely. 

Adam was silent, looking down at the tile. Yadier closed his eyes, too tired to deal with all of this. He hated the hospital. He hated being bedridden. Most of all, he hated the way Adam looked like he was about to cry when he opened his eyes again. "You mean so much more to me than that necklace, Yadi," Adam whispered, a tear falling down his face. It was Yadier's turn to feel ashamed. He looked away, staring at the sheets. His leg was in a cast, and it still hurt, but it was not as bad as it had been when he had first woken up in the hospital. 

"I do?" he asked. Adam nodded. "You're my best friend," Adam said with a sad laugh. "If I lost you, I wouldn't have anyone to nag to, or anyone to tell how I feel to," Adam said with a sniff. "That means so much more to me than any cheap silver necklace."

Yadier closed his eyes. "I'm sorry," he admitted, taking Adam's hand and squeezing it. "The important thing is is that we're both alive. Do you still have the necklace with you?" he asked innocently.

Adam nodded, pulling it out of his back pocket. Yadier saw the way he looked at it, and squeezed Adam's hand again, this time to get his attention. "I think you owe me the real story behind that necklace," Yadier said with a small smile on his face. Adam laughed, and told Yadier all of it, grateful that he had someone who wanted to hear it.


End file.
